Coin-operated lock



E. E. DOUGHERTY GOIN OPERATED LOCK Nov. 3, 1925.

Original Filed Aug. 7, 1922 Patented Nov. 3, 1925'.

UNITED STA-rits PATENT OFFICE;

EDWIN'E. DOUGHERTY, or Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

coin-OPERATED Loox.

Applcatin led g'list 7,1922, Serial No. 580,142.` Renewed July 13, 1925.

To all 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, .EDWIN E. DOUGHERTY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have iiivented` new and useful Improvements in tion and readily accessible for repair, adjustment and removal of coins.

It will be understood in the consideration of the invention that in usual types of coin controlled locks the mechanismy 1s subject to inspection and repair onlyby removing the lock from the door to `which it is attached.- It is` therefore another ohiect of the' inventionzto provide a` lock of the above type including means whereby a'person possessing the proper key may quickly gain access to the mechanism without removing the lock from the door.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means whereby lthe mechanism may be assembled completely on a single plate likev part of? the lock casing so that by .re- Inova-lof apart of the casing the operation of the complete mechanism may be observed, andi articles which may clog the device be readily removed; it being understood that metal'slugs, cardboard discs and the like are sometimes placed in the coin slot in substitution for a coin. n

My invention contemplates the use of a knob on each side of thel lock so that while a door canl be opened from the outside only when a coin is employed, it may be opened from: the inside without the use of a coin, and? it'is` therefore another object of the inventionto `provide aA lock in which the coifnwill serve directly as part of the mechanismandL remain in operative positionI un:- ti'l the`4 door isf opened from the inside; whereupon the coin will fallout of operative po`s.ton.M i Y.

' Other` objects and advantages will appear h-ereinafterf Il halve Yillustrated by the accompanying drawings a preferred form of the .invention.V

Figureff, is a view Vinv section seen on a Figure3, is a view in section seen on a line 3 3 of Fig. 2. More specifically, reference being had to the said figures and the vnumerals'indicating respective parts; 5 indicates a back wall of la housing 6, the complete housing con`- sisting of a boX like member'., and the aforesaid back wall 5 which may be secured to a door, such as 8, on the outer side thereof. v i p The lock is provided with theusual sliding bolt `9, having a bolt end 10 which is guided and held in position relative toV wall 5 byy a bearing 11.A Said bolt isV arranged to remain. in sliding contact at `all times with the inner surface of wall 5, and addition to' bearing 11,1 said bolt is further held by an adjusting screw 12. Said screw is threaded into a boss 13 formed integral with the bolt, and it will be apparent that the screw may be adjusted so that it abuts the inner surface 1li` of member 7 to hold the boltY against lateral movement. i

f kThe lock includes two door knobs 15 and 16, respectively, for operating the bolt from respective sides of the door. The knob 15, known as the outside knob, is formed with a'square bore 16', and knob 16, known as the inside knob, is similarly formed.` It is intended that the inside knob be capable at all timesA of retracting' theI bolt without the aid of a coin. 17 is provided whichis formed integral with a shaft `18, and which is formed with a square end extending into the bore of said knob. Said arm Iabuts boss 13 so that a partial' revolution of the inside knob will retract the bolt. Sha-ft 18" extends through a boss 20, which boss serves to hold a coil spring 21'. An end 2 3 of said spring abuts boss 13'l to hold the bolt yielda'bly in advanced position, and theI other end 23' of said spring is held by ascrew 24;. 'lheinL For this purpose an' arm.

side knob is threaded as at 25, and the shaft v from .the outside.

spring 21 serves to yieldably hold the bolt '1n advanced position, the movement thereof is limited by an end 28 of boss 13which end extends through a slot 29 formed in wall 5. A stop 30 is formed on the bolt to limit the forward movement of arm 17 so that it cannot be moved forwardly far enough to interfere withgothermoving parts of thel the bolt to retracted position.

Shaft 18 bears in a boss 32, around which is wound a spring 33. Integral with said shaft an arm 34 is formed, and spring 33 is bent to engage said arm as at 33 to hold said arm yieldablyin the normal position knob'may be secured thereto.

shown, in Fig. 1. Said spring is secured at the outer end as at 35 to a screw 36. Y Shaft 18 passes outwardly through an opening in the front part ofthe housing so that the It will be seen that by turning the outsideknob, arm k34 will be moved toward arm 17, but is in no way connected to the bolt, and therefore turning of the outside knob will not move said bolt, unless a coin 37 is inserted in a whereby coin slot 38 so that it falls into operative position as shown in Fig. 1. The shaft is provided with a square end which is inserted in the square bore 16 of knob 15, said knob and said shaft will turn together. v

Access maybe gained `to the coin space through an opening 52 in the front of the lock. Said opening is closed by a closure plate 53 which is formed with a lug 53 to assist in holding it in place, and a common lock 54, secured on the inside of said plate closure, co--operates with the lug to prevent the closure being removed except upon removal of the closure.

Thecoin slot is formed bya three sided member 56 abuttingand secured to wall 5. The bolt is formed with a recess 57 of greater length than the diameter of the coin to be used and of slightly greater depth nection exists therebetween. Acoin inserted.

in the coin slot will kfall into the recess provided in the bolt, and the fingers will co-act with the margins of said recess to hold the coin in the position shown. Now, upon turning the outside knob the bolt will be retracted. When theoutside knob is released the bolt returns to normal position and the lingers still act to retain the coin in ,posif tion. This is due to the factthat spring 23 compels arm 7 to 'hold the same relative position with regard to the bolt, and thus the coin is still held in place. When a person,fha.vingr gained access to a compartment by opening the door withfthe. aid ofa coin, forces the door closed the bolt will of course be forced inwardly in a manner common to bolts of this character. While the bolt is being retracted arm 34, with its ingers will remaininert. Thusy the effective length lof the vrecess in the bolt is increased', and the coin is free to fall into the coin space.

In installing the lock on a door, the vplate 5 is secured ythereto,.and thus it will be seen that the member 7 of the housing maybe removed without removingr the lock from the door. If it is desired to gain access to the mechanism of the lock, the outside knob is removed. Then the hand-hole plate is removed so that the screw 50 may be reached and removed. It will be apparent that any one, not possessing the proper keys, cannot gain access to the coin space of mechanism of the lock, While authorized persons possessing the proper keysv may quickly inspect the mechanism or remove articles, such as paper or slugs that may have clogged the mechanism. To remove the coins from the coin space, it is only necessary tov remove the hand-hole plate with the aid of the proper key.

In assembling or adjusting the lock, the adjustment screw is moved outward until the head abuts the inner surface of member 7 of the housing. Thus the bolt-is accurately guided and held in its proper posi-4 tion to facilitate smooth andaccurate movement ofsaid bolt.

It will be seen now that I have provideda coin controlled lock comprising thev very minimum of parts and readily installed, repaired'andfadj usted, and while I have shown and described a specific construction and arrangement of parts, I do not limit myself thereto, but may employ other constructions and arrangement of parts as occasion requires, Without departing from the spirit or enlarging the scope of my invention, Within the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a device of the character described, a coin chute provided With a discharge aperture having opposed side margins.y spaced apart a distance greater than the diameter of a coin, a retractile bolt below said coin chute provided With a slot through which the coin may fall substantially Without interference; the slot having a rear end margin, means for limiting the forwardvmovement of said bolt, yieldable means holding said bolt in forward position as limited by said stop; a finger normally disposed at right angle to the bolt and extended under the slot forwardly of the vertical median line of said discharge aperture, ano-ther iinger paralleling said first named finger ex- 4 tended above the bolt and slot disposed forwardly of t-he iirst named finger, said rear end margin and said fingers forming a support for a coin and arranged to coact when the bolt is in advanced position, to intercept and support a coin gravitating from said chute, an outside knob, and means whereby said knob on being turned moves both fingers simultaneously rearward in the general direction of the retrograde movement of the lock to retract the bolt through the agency of a supported coin.

2. A lock as in claim l, and further including, yieldable means tending to hold said 'ngers in normal position as described, y

an inside knob, means effective upon turning said inside knob for retracting Said bolt Without effecting movement of said fingers.

EDWIN E. DOUGHERTY. 

